US Senator. He moved with his father to Vermont where he attended the common schools and graduated from the University of Vermont at Burlington in 1810. He was an officer in a militia unit in the War of 1812 and in 1813 studied law at St Albans, Vermont. He was admitted to the bar 1n 1813 and opened a law office in Royalton, Vermont where he remained for 20 years. Upon entering politics he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives and was then appointed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1842 and advocated the annexation of Texas and support of the Mexican-American War. Before his election to the Senate, he served as Postmaster General for President Zachary Taylor. He was a conservative, anti-slavery Republican who defended his position even when in the minority. He was the Vermont presidential nominee in 1860, but withdrew his name after the first vote. Reelected for the final time in 1861, he served until his death at his home in Woodstock, Vermont. (bio by: Tom Todd)